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Landscapes of Sustainable Mobility: Public Art on the National Cycle Network

Mark McGuinnessDepartment of Geography, Bath Spa University College,

Newton Park, Bath, United Kingdom, BA2 9BN

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Structure• Introduction • Public Art: debates and claims• Public Art on the National Cycle

Network: Art and the Travelling Landscape

• Conclusion: benefits of public art perhaps overstated, but this is an innovative attempt to use public art to promote sustainable mobilities

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What is public art?

• “generally describe[s] works commissioned for sites of open public access […] outside conventional art spaces”

• “the exhibition of sculpture outdoors, to community murals, land art, site specific art, the design of paving and street furniture and performance as art and much else”

Malcolm Miles (1997) Art, Space and the City

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‘Public art’ and the production of space:

• Victorian stonetoppers, national monuments (Johnson, 1995 Atkinson & Cosgrove, 1998)

• postwar urban reconstruction (Hubbard & Lilley, 2003)

• new town arts & community projects (Finnegan, 1998)

• Urban regeneration schemes (Miles 1995; 1997; Hall 1997; Hall & Robertson, 2001)

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• ‘Puppy’ Jeff Koons, Guggenheim, Bilbao

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Forward, Centenary Square, Birmingham, Raymond Mason graphic: author

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The Claims of Public Art:

“public art, it has been claimed, can help alleviate a wide range of urban, social problems” (Hall & Robertson 2001, 22)

[public art is] “a cultural investment, vital to the recovery of many cities. It is said to contribute to local distinctiveness; attract companies and investment; feature in cultural tourism; add to land values; create employment; increase the use of open spaces; reduce wear and tear on buildings and lower levels of vandalism” (Selwood 1995, 1-2)

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Public art can “bring back to communities a strong sense of identity and belonging, achieving a real pride of place through a better quality of environment. In many ways art is seen as a manifestation of of the spirit of communities and this kind of expression could represent a magic formula to make urban gloom disappear”

(Cartes ,1997, 193).

Public art as a ‘magic formula’:

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The Critique of Public Art

“the claims made for [public art] tend to be nebulous and the social benefits undemonstrated” (Miles 1997, 2)

There is little evidence, according to Hall and Robertson, to suggest that artists’ intentions or their associated iconographies “correspond to the incorporation of public art into the experiences of the public’s everyday lives” (2001, 19).

“Mickey Mouse architecture and sculpture galleries in the rain will not cure our cities of either economic or cultural sickness” (Miles 1995, 249)

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• Superficial, change of image rather than substance

• Reflect sanitised histories and corporate aims rather than genuine community perspectives

• Betray a class-ridden perspective on what makes cities ‘healthy’ – cappuccino lifestyles?

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Art and the Travelling Landscape

“artworks along the National Cycle Network create memorable landmarks to encourage travellers on their journey”

“They reflect the distinctive character of the local landscape or make historical references about the area and are carefully sited to provide meeting and resting places”

“Looking more closely at the passing environment will foster greater care and responsibility for it and bring enjoyment along the way”

source: Sustrans (2003)

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Attempt to construct “valued features in the local inhabitants mental maps of their area” (Sustrans 2000, 90).

“each work of art along the network has been commissioned to create a sense of place [suggesting] information about an aspect of local history or an explanation about the social context of a particular area” (Sustrans 2000, 92).

graphics: author

• Marker posts, punctuate long stretches of track

• Functional art to be used (sat on, played with, walked through, turned round, switched on/off, drank from)

• Provide human scale to larger structures

• Landmarks to celebrate, educate, commemorate local histories and identities

• Suggest and promote objectives to encourage cycling and walking - sustainable transport and tourism (or at least leisure) modes?

Public Art on the National Cycle Network

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Materials from former industrial use recycled as track bed or transformed into public art often as functional objects (seating, water fountains, signposts etc)

graphics: Sustrans

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Recycled railway sleepers: Chasewater Cycleway, Staffordshire

graphics: author

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Warmley Station, Bristol-Bath Railway Path:

‘Brief Encounters’ (graphics: author)

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Warmley, nr Bristol ‘Gaius Sentinus’

Warmley, Bristol-Bath Railway Path: ‘Gaius Sentinus’

(graphics: author)

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‘Reflective Space’,

The Phoenix Trail, Oxfordshire

graphic: author

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‘Marker Post’ (left) & ‘Viewpoint Seat’ (right)

The Phoenix Trail, Oxfordshire

graphics: author

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‘Signal Seats’,

The Phoenix Trail, Oxfordshire

graphics: author

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‘Art and the Travelling Landscape’: summary

• Residential, suburban and rural sites

as much as central urban; non-conventional locations for public art

• Multi-sensory transport experience: touch, smell, sound

• seek to re-populate redundant space with landmarks: re-integrate space into everyday transport geographies

• Multi-user participation encouraged – community resource, deter vandalism, increase perceptions of safety

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Summary & Conclusions• The benefits of public art are perhaps overstated, but:• Art and the Travelling Landscape uses public art in

innovative ways:– development phase: reaches out beyond narrowly

defined interest groups– Enhanced environments for travellers, accessible

only by non-motorised transport.– Educational resource, promotes idea of

sustainability in land-use, materials and transport– Attempt to repopulate mental maps of a locality as

space recycled and new ways of moving through space are facilitated

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Structure• Introduction • Public Art: debates and claims• Public Art on the National Cycle

Network: Art and the Travelling Landscape

• Conclusion: benefits of public art perhaps overstated, but this is an innovative attempt to use public art to promote sustainable mobilities